Pumps may be used to recirculate water in aquatic farms, such as recirculating aquaculture systems in which fish and other aquatic life are raised. Recirculating aquaculture systems generally include one or more tanks (e.g., culture tank) to contain the fish, one or more water inlets into the tank(s), and one or more water outlets out of the tank(s). The water outlets are typically in communication with an inlet of a variable speed pump. The variable speed pump generally propels water through a filter and back into the tank through the water inlets.
Conventional recirculating aquaculture systems usually have a sizable upfront cost to design and build, and also have high operating costs that make it difficult for recirculating aquaculture farmers to compete with other types of aquaculture farms, such as ponds and net pen operations. Conventional recirculating aquaculture systems usually provide manually adjusted oxygen flow into a culture tank and manually adjusted water flow through the culture tank, depending upon the size or requirements of the aquatic life. As a result, typical recirculating aquaculture farms usually spend anywhere from about $50,000 to about $500,000 in electrical costs and about $12,000 to about $100,000 in oxygen costs on an annual basis. In fact, usually the highest operating costs for recirculating aquaculture farms are generally feed, electricity, and oxygen.
In conventional recirculating aquaculture systems, there are several parameters that are typically frequently monitored by the farmers in order to determine when feed rates for the fish may be increased. Presently, aquaculture farmers monitor ammonia and nitrogen output of the fish daily (by measuring the concentration of ammonia and nitrogen in the culture tank). In particular, the farmers monitor the amount of feed the fish may consume over a time period of about every 30 minutes to about 2 hours. In addition, the farmers monitor oxygen consumption of the fish and oxygen concentration of the water in the system constantly.
In light of the above obstacles, a need exists for a way in which to lower the production cost and operating cost of recirculating aquaculture systems.